Facebook Questions beta is announced

Test the wisdom of 500 million people

Facebook has unveiled Facebook Questions, with the beta functionality offering its users the opportunity to poll the wisdom of the Facebook community.

Facebook's mighty reach means that Facebook Questions could well prove to be a major hit, despite rivalry from internet sites like Yahoo Answers or the search engine Ask.

"Millions of people ask their friends questions on Facebook every day. What new music should I listen to? Where's the best sushi place in town? How do I learn to play the piano?" explains Facebook's release.

Beta arrival

"Today we're introducing Facebook Questions, a beta product that lets you pose questions like these to the Facebook community," it continues.

"With this new application, you can get a broader set of answers and learn valuable information from people knowledgeable on a range of topics.

"Since we like to develop products carefully over time with your help, Facebook Questions is available to a limited number of people right now, and we'll be developing it rapidly based on their feedback.

"We're aiming to bring this product to all of you as quickly as we can."

'Ask question'

If you happen to be one of those granted access to Facebook Questions you can participate simply by hitting the 'Ask question' button at the top of the screen - you can add a poll or photo.

"To help us show your question to the most relevant people and ensure the best answers, you can tag it with a specific topic," adds Facebook.

"For instance, if you have a question about what type of camera you should buy, you could tag it with "Photography." If you want to find the best bike routes in the area, you might tag it with "Cycling."

"The questions you ask will be shown to people who have expressed interest in the particular topics you tag, as well as to your friends and friends of friends."